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Coco (2017 Film)
Warning! This article contains spoilers about the recently released film Coco. If you have not yet seen the film please watch it before continuing on reading this article. Coco is a 2017 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on an original idea by Lee Unkrich, it is directed by Unkrich, and co-directed and co-written by Adrian Molina. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel who accidentally visits the land of the dead where he seeks the help of his musician great-great-grandfather to return him to his family among the living. The concept of the film is based on the Mexican holiday of Día de Muertos. The screenplay was penned by Adrian Molina and Matthew Aldrich, and the story by Unkrich, Molina, Jason Katz, and Aldrich. Pixar began developing animation in 2016. Unkrich and some of the film's crew members also visited Mexico for inspiration. Composer Michael Giacchino, who had worked on prior Pixar animated features, composed the score. Coco premiered on October 20, 2017 during the Morelia International Film Festival in Morelia, Mexico. It was released in Mexico the following week, the weekend before Día de Muertos, and became the highest-grossing film of all-time in the country. It was released in the United States on November 22, 2017 and has received highly positive reviews, with critics praising the animation, vocal performances, musical score, emotional story and respect to Mexican culture. Plot Twelve year old Miguel Rivera lives in the small, fictional Mexican village of Santa Cecilia. Miguel dreams of becoming a musician like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz, a popular singer-songwriter and film star who died when he was crushed by a bell in a live concert. However, because Miguel's great-great-grandfather left his family to achieve his musical dreams, his family has banned music for generations. Because of the ban, the only relative Miguel likes is his great-grandmother Coco. On Día de los Muertos, after Miguel inadvertently damages Mama Imelda's ofrenda with Miguel's great-great grandfather's face ripped out, he finds a bent section of the photo revealing that his great-great grandfather used a guitar similar to de la Cruz. This causes Miguel to believe that he and his family are direct descendants of de la Cruz. When Miguel attempts to participate in a talent contest using a guitar he kept away from his family, his grandmother destroys it and he leaves. Looking for a way to participate in the talent contest, Miguel infiltrates de la Cruz's mausoleum to steal his guitar and use it in the contest. However, he becomes a type of ghost unable to be seen or heard by the living except for Dante, a street dog he pets often. In the cemetery, Miguel meets his skeleton deceased relatives who are surprised that Miguel can see them and is there with them. They believe this is related to Imelda's inability to cross "the other side" and they take Miguel to Land of the Dead, an afterlife dimension where the deceased people come to visit their relatives on Día de los Muertos. There Imelda, Miguel and the rest of the family discover that Imelda cannot cross due to her portrait being absent from the damaged ofrenda. Miguel has to leave before sunrise or he will stay there forever as he begins to become a skeleton. They also discover that Miguel can be sent back to the world of the living with a relative "blessing" a petal of Aztec marigold; Imelda agrees to let Miguel go back home with the condition that he abandon his musical ambitions. Miguel refuses, leaves his family and meets up a lonely and forgotten jokester named Hector so he can find his great-great grandfather and returns without giving up his dreams; in exchange, Miguel will have to put Hector's portrait in his family's ofrenda in the Land of the Living allowing him to cross the bridge. Hector helps Miguel to get a guitar from one of his forgotten friends, Chicharrón, who disappears because there are no more living people who remember him. Hector also paints Miguel's face as a skeleton so he can walk free in the city. They go to a musical contest where the prize is an entrance to de la Cruz's palace. Meanwhile Imelda and the rest of the family search for Miguel with the help of her Spirit animal alebrije, Pepita. After winning the contest, an argument between Miguel and Hector takes place when Hector discovers Miguel could have returned to his home all the time (Miguel had previously lied to Hector by claiming that de la Cruz was his only family). In response, Miguel leaves Hector and Dante, determined to sneak into de la Cruz's palace on his own. At the palace, Miguel befriends de la Cruz and convinces him that he is his great-great grandson, with both bonding as they spend time together. However, before de la Cruz can give him his blessing, Hector sneaks into the palace, dressed as Frida Kahlo to interrupt them. When Hector meets with de la Cruz again, it is revealed that Hector used to be de la Cruz's partner in the music business, with Hector being a well-known songwriter and composer. After Miguel points out the similarities between Hector and de la Cruz's argument and one in one of de la Cruz's films where the villain poisons his counterpart him, Hector remembers the day of his death. That day, when Hector had decided to abandon the music industry and stay with his family, de la Cruz poisoned him and stole his songs and ideas, thereby achieving fame. His true colors revealed, de la Cruz takes away Hector's portrait, and detains Hector and Miguel in a Cenote. In the pit, Miguel realizes his family's intentions and wishes to reconcile with them, with Hector revealing that his main motivation for wanting to cross the bridge was to see his daughter Coco again, making him Miguel's true great-great grandfather. However, because of Coco's fading memory and her being the only person alive to remember Hector, Hector begins to fade away, giving them until sunrise to save him. When Imelda finds Miguel and reunites with Hector, Miguel convinces her and his family to help him recover Hector's portrait from de la Cruz and is surprised when he discovers that it was thanks to Dante that they found Hector, causing the dog to reveal himself as an alebrije. The plan fails when Hector's portrait is destroyed, but de la Cruz is exposed to his fans as a fraud by the deceased Rivera family. He is later destroyed by having a bell fall on top of him, echoing his first death. When the sun begins to rise, Hector begins to disappear and Miguel promises to make sure his great-grandmother Coco never forgets him. Miguel is sent back to Santa Cecilia without limitations and rushes to his home where he tries to make an unresponsive Coco remember Hector. In a final desperate attempt, Miguel tearfully sings "Remember Me", de la Cruz's hit single, which was a song that Hector had lovingly dedicated to his daughter. The song revitalizes Coco, who shares with Miguel some of her memories and gives him the missing part of the portrait of her parents with Hector's face. Miguel's actions allow him to reconcile with his family. A year later on Día de los Muertos, Miguel is shown presenting the family ofrenda to his new baby sister, which now includes his great-grandmother's Coco's picture, indicating that she passed away. As a result of Miguel's efforts and Hector's original sketches he left to Coco, de la Cruz is exposed as a fraud and forgotten by the world of the living, and Hector is given the remembrance and legacy he deserved. In the Land of the Dead, Hector can be seen with Imelda reuniting with his daughter before crossing the bridge to see his family, where Miguel is seen playing the guitar for both his living and deceased family members. Near the end, it is revealed that Pepita when she returns to the living world is the Rivera family's pet cat. Cast * Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel Rivera, a 12 year old aspiring musician. * Gael García Bernal as Hector, a charming trickster in the Land of the Dead who must enlist Miguel's help to visit the Land of the Living. It is revealed that he is Miguel's great-great-grandfather in the epilogue. Bernal also voices Hector in the Spanish dub. * Benjamin Bratt as Ernesto de la Cruz, the most famous musician in the history of Mexico and Miguel's idol. Revered by fans worldwide until his untimely death, the charming and charismatic musician is even more beloved in the Land of the Dead. Antonio Sol provides de la Cruz's singing voice, except for "Remember Me". * Renée Victor as Abuelita Elena, Miguel's grandmother who enforces the ban on music. * Ana Ofelia Murguía as Mamá Coco, Miguel's great-grandmother. * Alanna Ubach as Mamá Imelda, Miguel's great-great-grandmother. * Alfonso Arau as Papá Julio, Miguel's late great-grandfather, Coco's husband. * Selene Luna as Tía Rosita, Miguel's late great-aunt, Julio's sister. * Dyana Ortellí as Tía Victoria, Miguel's late great-aunt, Abuelita's sister. * Herbert Siguenza as Tío Felipe and Tío Oscar, Imelda's late twin brothers. * Jaime Camil as Papá Enrique, Miguel's father. * Sofía Espinosa as Mamá Luisa, Miguel's mother. * Edward James Olmos as Chicharrón, a friend of Hector's who is forgotten in the Land of the Dead. * Luis Valdez as Tío Berto, Miguel's uncle. * Lombardo Boyar as a Mariachi Miguel meets in Santa Cecilia Plaza. * Octavio Solis as the Arrival Agent * Gabriel Iglesias as the Head Clerk * Cheech Marin as a Corrections Officer * Carla Medina as Departure Agent * Blanca Araceli as an Emcee * Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Frida Kahlo * Salvador Reyes as Security Guard * John Ratzenberger as Juan Ortodoncia Development Lee Unkrich first pitched an idea for the film in 2010, when Toy Story 3, which he also directed, was released. The Pixar team made several trips to Mexico to help define the characters and story of Coco. Unkrich said, "I'd seen it portrayed in folk art. It was something about the juxtaposition of skeletons with bright, festive colors that captured my imagination. It has led me down a winding path of discovery. And the more I learn about el Día de los Muertos, the more it affects me deeply." The team found it difficult working with skeletal creatures as they lacked any muscular system and as such it was discovered that they had to be animated differently from their human counterparts. On April 13, 2016, Unkrich announced that they had begun the animation. The film's writer, Adrian Molina, was promoted to co-director in 2016. Disney made a request to trademark the phrase "Día de los Muertos" (note, in Spanish the holiday is properly called Día de Muertos) for various merchandising applications. This was met with criticism from the Mexican American community in the United States. One of them was Lalo Alcaraz, a Mexican American cartoonist, who drew a film poster, titled "Muerto Mouse", depicting a skeletal Godzilla-sized Mickey Mouse with the byline "It's coming to trademark your cultura." More than 21,000 people signed a petition on Change.org stating that the trademark was "cultural appropriation and exploitation at its worst." A week later, Disney cancelled its attempt, with the official statement saying that the "trademark filing was intended to protect any title for our film and related activities. It has since been determined that the title of the film will change, and therefore we are withdrawing our trademark filing." In 2015, Pixar hired Alcaraz to consult on the film, joining playwright Octavio Solis, and former CEO of the Mexican Heritage Corp. Marcela Davison Aviles to form a cultural consultant group. On March 31, 2017, comedian Conan O'Brien jokingly criticized Disney on his talk show Conan for naming the film and trademarking the name "Coco" despite the fact that the name "Coco" is associated with his show, including its official website, and demanded that Disney change the film's name. Soundtrack The film's score was composed by Michael Giacchino. Germaine Franco, Adrian Molina, Robert Lopez, and Kristen Anderson-Lopez wrote the songs. Recording for the score began on August 14, 2017. The score was released on November 10, 2017. |} All music composed by Michael Giacchino except where indicated. Release Coco was released in Mexico on October 27, 2017, the weekend before Día de Muertos. The film was released in the United States on November 22, 2017, during the Thanksgiving weekend and three weeks after Día de Muertos, and will be released in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2018. The film is being released in a crowded market. It is preceded by Thor: Ragnarok, Justice League and another animated film The Star, followed by Star Wars: The Last Jedi three weeks after Thanksgiving. It is one of the three Disney film productions being released in the November–December corridor. It is the second Pixar offering of the year following Cars 3, making 2017 the second year Pixar is releasing two films after 2015 (with Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur). The film was accompanied in theaters by Walt Disney Animation Studios' short film Olaf's Frozen Adventure, featuring the characters from Frozen. Marketing The first teaser trailer was released on March 15, 2017, two days before Disney's Beauty and the Beast opened worldwide. The teaser trailer introduced the basic concept of the film while highlighting its focus on music. Scott Mendelson of Forbes praised the trailer as "a terrific old-school Pixar sell, mostly consisting of a single sequence and offering just the barest hint of what's to come." The film's themes and imagery drew comparison to another animated film that centered around Día de Muertos, The Book of Life (2014). However, Marissa Martinelli of Slate pointed out that the plot of the film, in which the protagonist is mesmerized by a deceased figure, is more like the plot of another Pixar film, Ratatouille (2007), comparing the character of Miguel to that of Remy the rat. She further noted how the scene where Miguel passes through a living person and realizes he's in a different realm resembles similar scenes in Spirited Away (2001).38 A two-minute short film, titled Dante's Lunch—A Short Tail was released on March 29, 2017, on the internet. It introduces the film's supporting character, a Xoloitzcuintle named Dante. The short was created early in the animation process by Unkrich and his team to get a better sense of the character.39 The first official trailer was released on June 7, 2017,40 followed by a second trailer on September 13.41 The film was marketed extensively in Mexico, including traditional wall-painted advertising usually done for local events and never for films.42 A movie chain in the country held a contest for dubbing a character in the film43 and another movie chain held a contest to become an interviewer for the cast and crew of the film.44 The film will also have its own VR game; it will be Pixar's first VR development.45 Receptionedit Box officeedit As of November 23, 2017, Coco has grossed $22.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $48.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $70.9 million.8 In the United States and Canada, Coco is projected to gross $55–65 million from 3,987 theaters in its first five days, including around $40 million in its opening weekend.46 It made $2.3 million from Tuesday night previews, landing between Disney's previous two November releases Moana ($2.6 million) and The Good Dinosaur($1.3 million), and $13.2 million on its first day.6 Coco was released in Mexico on October 27, nearly a month before its release in the United States. It grossed $9.3 million on its opening weekend, the biggest opening weekend for an original animated film and the biggest debut for an animated film outside of the summer movie season in the market.47 In its second weekend, it earned another $10.8 million, a 12% increase over its first weekend, bringing its total to $28 million. It became the fastest ten-day grosser ever for an animated feature in Mexico, as well as the biggest original animated release ever in the territory.4849 It dropped by 23% in its third weekend, grossing $8.4 million. That brought its total to MX$792 million (US$41.4 million), making it the highest-grossing animated film and the second-highest grossing film of all time, behind Disney's own The Avengers, in local currency.50 A few days later, on November 15, it passed The Avengers to become the highest-grossing film of all time in the market.11121314 Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 153 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Coco's rich visual pleasures are matched by a thoughtful narrative that takes a family-friendly—and deeply affecting—approach to questions of culture, family, life, and death."51 On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".52 Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, one of fewer than 80 films in the history of the service to receive such a score. It is also the 6th Pixar film to earn the rating, and the first since Up in 2009.6 Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said, "At every imaginative juncture, the filmmakers (the screenplay is credited to Pixar veteran Molina and Matthew Aldrich) create a richly woven tapestry of comprehensively researched storytelling, fully dimensional characters, clever touches both tender and amusingly macabre, and vivid, beautifully textured visuals."53 Robert Abele of TheWrap praised the film, saying: "If an animated movie is going to offer children a way to process death, it's hard to envision a more spirited, touching and breezily entertaining example than Coco."54 In his review for Variety, Peter Debruge wrote, "In any case, it works: Coco's creators clearly had the perfect ending in mind before they'd nailed down all the other details, and though the movie drags in places, and features a few too many childish gags... the story's sincere emotional resolution earns the sobs it's sure to inspire." Debruge also described the film as "An effective yet hardly exceptional addition to the Pixar oeuvre".55 Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, writing that "There’s a touch of Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki in the film’s matter-of-fact depiction of the dead interacting with the living, as well as its portrayal of certain creatures" such as Dante and Pepita. He concluded his review by stating, "I had some minor quibbles about [Coco] while I was watching it, but I can’t remember what they were. This film is a classic."56 Accolades Category:Movies Category:2017 Movies Category:Pixar Films Category:Animated Films Category:Animation